The Government’s encouragement of extending working lives has been one of the most significant policy developments in recent years. Due to increased longevity and demographic pressures, there has been the recognition that more of the population need to be working until later in their lives to ensure economic sustainability, both for themselves and for government finances. This report presents research from the renEWL research consortium on extending working lives beyond the age of 50, and will provide an evidence base for policy makers. This is vital to ensure that these changes planned by Government are fair, effective, and targeted.There is growing evidence of the need to extend working lives in the UK. Demographic shifts, including population ageing and increased life expectancy has meant that in a relatively short amount of time, public policy has shifted from encouraging older workers to retire earlier, to encouraging them to work past the traditional retirement age. The culmination of this policy shift has been the increase of the State Pension Age, and the commitment by the government to review it every Parliament.For some groups of the population however, extending the length of time spent in employment is currently unrealistic. Health problems, shorter life expectancy and commitments such as informal caring mean that many drop out of the labour market before the current retirement age. Therefore, for these groups there is a need to ensure working lives are as full as possible, and to provide necessary support to ensure these groups are not unfairly disadvantaged.It is the role of policy makers, employers, and individuals to enact these necessary changes. The extending working lives agenda intersects many policy areas, from the economy, to health and social care, to work and pensions. But policy decisions need to be informed by the latest evidence. The evidence included in this report is some of the most contemporary and in-depth research on extending working lives and enabling fuller working lives in the UK. It is indispensable to policy makers with an interest in securing a future labour force that is economically sustainable, productive, and healthy.

A population based case-control study in three Nordic countriesObjective: The aim of this case–control study was to assess the effect of night-shift work on the risk of hematological cancers.Methods: The study included 39 371 leukemia, 56 713 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, 9322 Hodgkin lymphoma, and 26 188 multiple myeloma cases diagnosed between 1961 and 2005 in Finland, Sweden, and Iceland. Five controls for each case were selected from the Nordic Occupational Cancer Study (NOCCA) cohort, matched by year of birth, sex and country. Night-shift exposure was assessed by using the NOCCA job-exposure matrix (JEM). Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated from conditional logistic regression models. Results: Overall, night work was not associated with a risk of hematological cancers. We observed a small but non-significantly increased risk for leukemia (OR 1.07, 95% CI 0.99–1.16), especially for acute myeloid leukemia (OR 1.15, 95% CI 0.97–1.36) among workers exposed to a high level of cumulative night work exposure. Night work exposure was not associated with lymphatic cancers and multiple myeloma.Conclusion: This study did not support associations between night-shift work and hematological cancers.

The aims of this study were 1) to show that the use of different cut-off scores available in the literature can lead to erroneous conclusions, adding to the emerging literature highlighting the problems associated with its use, and 2) to propose an alternative technique − Cluster Analysis − to assess the risk of burnout as well as to identify profiles at risk of burnout.Burnout was measured among 664 French psychologists using the French-Canadian version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Dion & Tessier, 1994). Our participants were classified as high on each dimension of the MBI using different cut-off scores available in the literature and using the Cluster Analysis method.The study showed that the use of cut-off scores can indeed be misleading as conclusions may be very different according to the cut-off used. Cluster analysis allowed us to highlight four distinct burnout risk profiles: “High risk of burnout”, “Risk of burnout through high emotional exhaustion”, “Risk of burnout through low personal accomplishment”, and “No risk of burnout”. Several variables appeared as predictors of occupational burnout such as working in a company or having several different types of contracts, showing the discriminative power of clusters. Finally, a discussion is proposed on the meaning of the identified clusters and the use of this analysis in research and practice.

Sun Safety at Work CanadaOutdoor workers have a higher risk for skin cancers and heat stress. Workplaces need solutions relevant to their needs, proven to be effective in the real-world, and trialed in workplace settings. This article examines a workplace-based knowledge transfer and exchange intervention project, called Sun Safety at Work Canada. The objective was to have sun exposure included as a hazard within the workplaces' health and safety management systems. Knowledge brokers from the research team engaged intensively and supported workplaces in the municipal and electrical-utility sectors to enhance sun safety for their outdoor workers. They provided assessment and feedback, sun safety resources, and sun safety training. The adoption of sun safety programs and practices was evaluated three times, in 12 workplaces, across three Canadian provinces. The intervention, interview questions and analyses were based upon an Organization Implementation Model. This article focuses on the barriers and facilitators to the adoption of sun safety, elements of the knowledge transfer and exchange intervention, and influences from the external environment. Over 40?h of interview data with workplace champions and key informants were analyzed using matrix-based methods and thematic coding. Barriers and facilitators to adoption included: the priority given to sun exposure as an occupational hazard; the workplaces' available resources; the ability to engage key supervisors and workers; aspects of the intervention; and assistance from the knowledge brokers. The lack of provincial occupational health and safety legislation specific to ultraviolet exposure, and the regional climate also affected adoption. This intervention process is applicable to other hazards in occupational settings.

A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of 61 ArticlesA growing number of studies have examined associations between night shift work and the risks of common cancers among women, with varying conclusions. We did a meta-analysis to identify whether long-term night shift work increased the risks of common cancers in women. We enrolled 61 articles involving 114,628 cases and 3,909,152 participants from Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. Risk estimates were performed with a random-effect model or a fixed-effect model. Subgroup analyses and meta-regression analyses about breast cancer were conducted to explore possible sources of heterogeneity. In addition, we carried out a dose–response analysis to quantitatively estimate the accumulative effect of night shift work on the risk of breast cancer. A positive relationship was revealed between long-term night shift work and the risks of breast [OR = 1.316; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.196–1.448], digestive system (OR = 1.177; 95% CI, 1.065–1.301), and skin cancer (OR = 1.408; 95% CI, 1.024–1.934). For every 5 years of night shift work, the risk of breast cancer in women was increased by 3.3% (OR = 1.033; 95% CI, 1.012–1.056). Concerning the group of nurses, long-term night shift work presented potential carcinogenic effect in breast cancer (OR = 1.577; 95% CI, 1.235–2.014), digestive system cancer (OR = 1.350; 95% CI, 1.030–1.770), and lung cancer (OR = 1.280; 95% CI, 1.070–1.531). This systematic review confirmed the positive association between night shift work and the risks of several common cancers in women. We identified that cancer risk of women increased with accumulating years of night shift work, which might help establish and implement effective measures to protect female night shifters.

Firefighters' are exposed to carcinogens such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) during fires and from their personal protective equipment (PPE). Recent research has shown that decontamination processes can reduce contamination on both gear and skin. While firefighter cultures that honor dirty gear are changing, little is known about current attitudes and behaviors toward decontamination in the fire service. Four hundred eighty-five firefighters from four departments completed surveys about their attitudes, beliefs, perceived norms, barriers, and behaviors toward post-fire decontamination processes. Overall firefighters reported positive attitudes, beliefs, and perceived norms about decontamination, but showering after a fire was the only decontamination process that occurred regularly, with field decontamination, use of cleansing wipes, routine gear cleaning, and other behaviors all occurring less frequently. Firefighters reported time and concerns over wet gear as barriers to decontamination.

Study that aims to establish the prevalence of negative acts in the workplace in a nationally representative sample of Irish employees. This project involved a survey of a national probability sample of employees focusing on workplace ill treatment received at least once over the previous two years.

A four-year longitudinal studyObjectives: The aim of this study was to investigate changes in body mass index (BMI) between different work schedules and different average number of yearly night shifts over a four-year follow-up period.Methods: A prospective study of Norwegian nurses (N=2965) with different work schedules was conducted: day only, two-shift rotation (day and evening shifts), three-shift rotation (day, evening and night shifts), night only, those who changed towards night shifts, and those who changed away from schedules containing night shifts. Paired student's t-tests were used to evaluate within subgroup changes in BMI. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to evaluate between groups effects on BMI when adjusting for BMI at baseline, sex, age, marital status, children living at home, and years since graduation. The same regression model was used to evaluate the effect of average number of yearly night shifts on BMI change.Results: We found that night workers [mean difference (MD) 1.30 (95% CI 0.70–1.90)], two shift workers [MD 0.48 (95% CI 0.20–0.75)], three shift workers [MD 0.46 (95% CI 0.30–0.62)], and those who changedwork schedule away from [MD 0.57 (95% CI 0.17–0.84)] or towards night work [MD 0.63 (95% CI 0.20–1.05)] all had significant BMI gain (P<0.01) during the follow-up period. However, day workers had a non-significant BMI gain. Using adjusted multiple linear regressions, we found that night workers had significantly larger BMI gain compared to day workers [B=0.89 (95% CI 0.06–1.72), P<0.05]. We did not find any significant association between average number of yearly night shifts and BMI change using our multiple linear regression model.Conclusions: After adjusting for possible confounders, we found that BMI increased significantly more among night workers compared to day workers.

A meta-analysis of 35 years of intervention researchBurnout is prevalent among mental health providers and is associated with significant employee, consumer, and organizational costs. Over the past 35 years, numerous intervention studies have been conducted but have yet to be reviewed and synthesized using a quantitative approach. To fill this gap, we performed a meta-analysis on the effectiveness of burnout interventions for mental health workers. We completed a systematic literature search of burnout intervention studies that spanned more than 3 decades (1980 to 2015). Each eligible study was independently coded by 2 researchers, and data were analyzed using a random-effects model with effect sizes based on the Hedges' g statistic. We computed an overall intervention effect size and performed moderator analyses. Twenty-seven unique samples were included in the meta-analysis, representing 1,894 mental health workers. Interventions had a small but positive effect on provider burnout (Hedges' g = .13, p = .006). Moderator analyses suggested that person-directed interventions were more effective than organization-directed interventions at reducing emotional exhaustion (Qbetween = 6.70, p = .010) and that job training/education was the most effective organizational intervention subtype (Qbetween = 12.50, p < .001). Lower baseline burnout levels were associated with smaller intervention effects and accounted for a significant proportion of effect size variability. The field has made limited progress in ameliorating mental health provider burnout. Based on our findings, we suggest that researchers implement a wider breadth of interventions that are tailored to address unique organizational and staff needs and that incorporate longer follow-up periods.

From policy to practice - description of good examplesThis report presents a selection of case studies of successful efforts to reach out to micro and small enterprises (MSEs) to help them improve occupational safety and health (OSH). The more than 40 inspiring examples from 12 EU Member States are grouped by themes such as multi-dimensional strategies and initiatives by non-OSH intermediaries. The aim is to show that, while MSEs can struggle with managing safety and health, initiatives to improve OSH in MSEs can succeed and are transferable to different countries and sectors. By collecting and analysing these case studies, the report aims to answer the vital question ‘What works, for whom and under what circumstances?